Well folks, I have great news. Paul Ryan has declared the he will sign on to raising the debt limit and do so without conditions.

Oh wait, sorry, I misread that last part. He’s saying he’s “open” to raising the debt limit, but only if the Democrats agree to more spending cuts.

When asked by Schieffer what conditions Republicans would demand, Ryan said that they were “not really interested in negotiating through the media,” but added that they wanted assurance of concessions, potentially including spending cuts and debt caps, in order to vote for the increase.

“What we’re saying here is spending cuts and controls in conjunction with raising the debt limit,” he told Schieffer. “That’s what we’ve been saying all along.”

When pressed as to whether or not Republicans would still vote for raising the debt limit if their demands were not met, Ryan said no.

“I do not … no, we won’t raise it, just simply raise the debt limit,” he said. “We will vote to have spending cuts and controls in conjunction with the debt limit increase.”

Note that, unlike a budgetary crisis and government shutdown, failure to raise the debt ceiling could spell economic ruination, not simply for the US, but for most of the First World. But hey, the Republicans care for America and not just their political careers…right?

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